Explained: This article explains the political background, key decisions, and possible outcomes related to Explained : Tharoor’s scathing jibe at India-US trade deal and Its Impact and why it matters right now.
New Delhi: The India-US interim trade deal came under severe criticism from the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Tuesday during the debate on the Union Budget, with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor dubbing it a “pre-committed purchase agreement” that overturns every principle of reciprocity.
Initiating the debate after the House logjam ended following the Opposition’s notice for a motion to remove Speaker Om Birla, Tharoor said he was surprised by New Delhi’s willingness to buy USD 500 billion worth of American goods. Incidentally, he noted, India currently has a trade surplus of nearly USD 45 billion with the US.
“No major economy has ever neutralised its own trade leverage in this manner. While the US continues to impose import tariffs of up to 18 per cent on Indian exports, we have committed ourselves to lower tariffs to near-zero levels, open agriculture, dilute data localisation, soften intellectual-property safeguards, and even redirect strategic energy imports, especially away from Russia, to meet purchase targets,” Tharoor said.
Tharoor also questioned the Centre’s claim that it has secured a “better deal” than China, Vietnam, or other Asian economies. “While India has obtained tariff reductions of one or two percentage points compared to them, no East Asian economy has agreed to deliberately dilute its trade surplus with the United States through guaranteed purchase commitments,” he said.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who had supported the Centre’s position on Operation Sindoor, disagreeing with his own party, also took a swipe at Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for sidestepping questions on India’s purported commitment to the US on not purchasing oil from Russia.
“When the two ministers play ping-pong with each other, saying it is not in their mandate to answer the questions, each one attributes it to the other, which looks like a rather disappointing game. When no minister claims ownership of something like this, accountability disappears, and Parliament is left staring at a Budget that conceals obligations the government seems to lack the courage to admit openly,” he said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who also spoke during the debate, said the “one-sided” deal, which would “flood Indian markets” with US agricultural products, would hurt the interests of Indian farmers. TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said while the trade deal stands to benefit American farmers, “it will depress prices, destroy competitiveness, and further marginalise Indian farmers.”
Outside Parliament too, the Congress targeted the Modi government over the deal, first announced by US President Donald Trump on 2 February. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the White House fact sheet on the agreement, released on Tuesday, raised more troubling questions.
Referring to the fact sheet, he pointed to the document’s claim that India will eliminate or reduce tariffs on all US industrial goods and a wide range of US food and agricultural products, including dried distillers’ grains (DDGs), red sorghum, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, certain pulses, soybean oil, wine and spirits, and additional products.
“Now we know what ‘additional products’ actually meant in the Indo-US joint statement agreed by the Modi government. ‘Pulses’ have been silently added in the newly released White House fact sheet of February 9, which was not part of the Indo-US joint statement issued on February 6, 2026. The utility of red sorghum imports to India was mentioned in the joint statement, but that utility pertaining to ‘animal feed’ has now mysteriously vanished in the White House fact sheet of February 9, 2026,” Kharge wrote on X.
The Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition stressed that by granting Bangladesh zero-duty access for using American cotton, Washington has effectively incentivised Bangladesh over Indian farmers to save their own margins.
“As textile hubs like Tirupur and Surat are shackled by 18% taxes, our neighbour gains a 0% fast-track, dealing a lethal “double whammy” to Indian cotton and garments alike. Is this a victory or a PR- wrapped betrayal that sacrifices India’s strategic national interests and export engine at the altar of Epstein Files?” Kharge added.
(Edited by Varnika Dhawan)
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